Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-06-02
A FRENCH aoLocAusr.

Burning of the Opera Com que in Paris
During a Performance--Fright ful Loss OF
Life Among the Panic-Stricken Audience
An Actress Burned to Death in Her
Dressin. Room.
PARIS May 25.-The widely-known thea
ter, the Opera Comique, is on fire. and will
probably be destroyed.
LATER-The Opera Com que is still
burning, and no hope is entertained of
saving the building The fire broke out
during the performance. The theater
was crowded, and at the first alarm
rush was made for the exits.
The fire spread with great
rapidity. and many persons sprang
from the windows to the ground to avoid
being caught by the flames, only to meet
death by contact with the pavement.
Fourteen of the persons who threw them
selves from the windows were instantly
killed, and forty-three were picked up
more or less in jured, some of them fatally,
and many seriously. The proba bility that
a large number of persons have been
crushed to death in the galleries and on
The stairways is very great, but this IS as
yet uncertain. 1t is, however, beyond
question that great mlny occupying
seats near the stage were caught by the
fire and burned to death. Little attention
is being paid to saving the building, all
efforts being directed to rescuing the un-
fortunate inmates, whose cries fill the
air.
LATER.
The dead bodies of five persons have
been taken out of the front part of the
theatre. They were horribly burned and
it is doubtful that they can be Identified.
Two of them were those of a woman and
little boy, the woman clasping the child
tightly in her arms.
The fire origin ated in one of the wings,
and was caused by a gas jet coming in
contact with some of the scenery which
was being shifted into position for the
second act of ''Mignon," the first act be-
ing then in progress The flames burst
forth like a fl .sh of powder, and
the whole interior of the thea
ter was almost Immediately ablaze.
Mme.~ Mergolier and NM. Tasquin and
Bernard were on the stage at the time,
and 80 closely were they pursued by the
flames that they were compelled to run
through the stage entrance into the street
in stage costume, as did also the other
members of the company, none of whom
were given time to take away an article
of clothing other than what they wore.
The audience was, of course, panic
stricken, but through the heroic and sys-
tematic efforts of the ushers and some OF
| the cooler-headed of the spectators, they
were kept moving toward the exits with
out trampling upon each other.
| All of the occupants of the
| main portion of the house were
got out without difficulty, but the
| flames behind the stage soon severed the
gas connections, leaving the galleries and
| stairways in darkness before the upper
| portion of the house was cleared, and it is
! feared that number of persons were
| left in the upper tiers and persisted. The
| roof fell in within half an hour after the
! fire started
| Madame Seller, one of the actresses,
was in her dressing room when the fire
| broke out, and being unable to make her
| scape was burned to death. All of the
other members of the company and en-
| loyes of the theatre escaped with their
| yes, but several supernumeraries
were injured, one or two of
hem very seriously The total number Of
persons Known to have been killed and
| iured is sixty seven. The building was
entirely destroyed, and it is as vet i'm
| possible to say how many bodies ar"
! buried beneath It's ruins.